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MOR has been affiliated to Sport Moray, the local sports council, for many years and among many things, Sport Moray organises an annual sports awards evening in late Autumn every year. As a club we have been reasonably successful in getting the right people recognised at this event and not just for competing. People like Douglas Murray and Mike Rodgers have both twice been awarded awards for their extraordinary contribution to the administration and promotion of Orienteering and last year Lil Kenyon won the Schools Volunteer Award for the excellent work she does in delivering coaching and co-ordinating all the Schools festivals. This year, however, was very much about performance results and we felt that, because we had had both the British and Scottish Championships close by that we had some pretty strong candidates. The classes were very competitive, with as many as 10 nominees in each from a wide range of sports; in particular, figure skating seems to be growing.

The awards evening was on Mon 30 Oct, immediately after our Moray MEGA Mix weekend and the nominees plus a few more waited with anticipation. Early in the evening, Isobel Howard won the Girl’s Junior Sports Award (under 14) having won the British Championships (both individual and relay), Scottish Orienteering League, and had a very impressive debut representing Scotland and not long after, it was time for the Junior Team award (age 12 and over). As the nominations were being read out, several of our team had already ascended to the stage as part of Athletics and Cross Country teams, so it was left to Isobel walk up again for the MOR Team nomination. Amazingly, we won that as well and the others slid across the stage to join Isobel for the award. Once again, success at British and Scottish Championships were also supported by how well the older juniors volunteer within the club and nurture the younger juniors, and that we are getting closer than ever to winning the Jamie Stevenson Trophy…….. At half time, Hannah Miley, the Scottish swimmer gave an excellent 15-minute chat about her experiences competing at the highest level and how important it is that it is YOUR targets that matter, not the outside expectation (especially media). She is very small for such a successful international swimmer.

In the second half, we had hopes for a winner of the Heather Stanning award for Intermediate Female (14 to 17), which Mairi Weir won last year, but this was won by an excellent Figure Skater. 2 out of 3 wasn’t bad when there are about 12 categories overall! Generally, we have been successful in getting adults recognised for all round contribution and juniors for performance; however, having seen nominations for the Veterans Performance award this year, I think we will look harder at that area for future opportunities as well. The awards are always an inspirational evening hearing about so many varying sports and excellence with some people overcoming significant adversity. Also, one boy, involved in Water Sports and nominated in the Intermediate category, had won his club a £30,000 power boat by winning a competition earlier in the year!

There are many ways to get the sport and your club recognised more widely and events like these really help boost the publicity, so if you are not looking at it already, make sure you nominate the right people this year, especially as the British Championships was nearby. And don’t just focus on the juniors.

Moravian Orienteers has always aimed to respect and protect the personal data of all our members, noting that the vast majority of your orienteering relevant data is collected by BOF or the SOA and shared with appropriate and approved Moravian committee members.

As you may be aware, new General Data Protection Regulations, known as GDPR, come into law with effect from 25 May 18. GDPR imposes new rules around data protection for any organisation that collects and uses data about EU residents. The new regulation will have an impact on all sport and recreation organisations and it will change the way that we handle, use and store data about the people we engage with. The regulation is designed to strengthen existing data protection laws for all individuals who reside in the EU.

The new rules will come into force in the UK from 25 May 2018. The Government has confirmed that the UK’s decision to leave the EU will not affect the commencement of GDPR, although we don’t yet know how Brexit may impact data protection legislation long term.

In essence, these new regulations make changes to existing law to make it clear to you (our membership) on what personal data we hold on you; how we intend to use it; and to make clear to you the rights you have with that data.

To be compliant with GDPR, Moravian Orienteers has produced a privacy policy statement which can be found under the Data Protection tab on our website. That document details the information we collect on you, how we use it and your rights.

Moravian has also made changes to its membership website to ensure that you are aware of the data that will be collected by BOF and SOA should you re-join our Club next year. You will also see entry information enhanced at our events (in final details and on the entry table) to make it clear to you how information for the event will be used.

Please read the Coaching notes – for safety information if not for coaching tips.

The exercises are 1.5km from the Welhill Car Park – I’ve included a map to show the Car Park and Start/Finish of MAD exercises. MAD2 and MAD2a are similar – only do one of them. Either will combine with MAD1 as the Finish of MAD1 is the Start of MAD2/2a.

Well perhaps more accurately the Scottish Orienteering Urban League (SOUL) on the mean streets of Broxburn. Following the voiding of courses at the Big Weekend this was an opportunity for me to go to the top of the Moravian leader board – all that was needed was to turn up and get around without mispunching. Broxburn is a very long and not particularly attractive town in the shadow of pit bings – remnants of an industrial past relating to the oil shale industry. ESOC put on a Prologue (titter ye not) followed by a Chase. Ongoing injuries meant that getting around was the main goal and I managed what I felt was a fault free run including crossing the Union Canal (by bridge) and the Brox Burn itself. I fared much better than one of my main rivals (Crawford) – he picked up course 3 instead of course 2 and only realised at download. A steady and unspectacular result but this was the race that got me my SOUL ranking points. The Chase moved slightly further west and once again crossed the burn. Remarkable that three runners on my course still managed to miss controls in error. It was a lovely day in not such a lovely setting – we are so lucky with the attractive venues we enjoy in Highland and Moray.

Much to the chagrin of the academics and scientists working late on a Friday evening, we joined EUOC in their student pranks running around the corridors (and the icy roof) of the James Clerk Maxwell Building at Edinburgh Uni. Revenge was sweet for one budding Einstein who pocketed Control 114 beside staircase A on Level 4 (our 3rd Control) before returning to his experiment. However, his evil plan back-fired when it resulted in a dozen confused orienteers congregating outside his door – the 4 McLuckies included. We thought the major challenges were behind us once we’d eventually found the only door which gave access to the roof on Level 7 (this involved us realising that only staircase M would do.) However, once outside we discovered it had turned into a terrifying ice-rink – questionable risk assessment for this section of the course! Having risked our necks on the roof we thought it was all downhill (or rather down staircases) to the Finish. It wasn’t. Staircase J and the Finish, turned out to be only accessible from one of the other 7 Levels!! This final leg turned into our longest leg of the entire course. Although Morag studied there (in the 1900s!),staircase J was a modern addition, removing any potential advantage.

Results: Finlay (& Peter) 1 Kate (& Morag) 0

Event 2: FWTN (Fight With the Night)

Or more accurately: First fight with the head-torch cables and then head out into the night – for more skating.

More student pranks on this Urban Sprint with controls hidden in dark recesses of the Science Faculty grounds. Surprisingly we all managed to remain upright with Kate coming out on top after Finlay’s struggle with a large shipping container – behind which lurked Control 3.

Results: Finlay (& Peter) 1 Kate (& Morag) 1

Event 3: The City Race (VOID)

It was a new experience for us as we arrived at the impressive Assembly at George Heriot’s School on a crisp Saturday morning to find the event “voided”. It seemed most people didn’t avoid it and instead did battle round the icy streets (skates optional.) More student mischief occurred, battling with the residents of the plush new Quartermile – unfortunately EUOC lost and controls were removed at the last minute. It was the first time we’d been asked to “honesty punch” one or two controls on each of our courses. Kate & Finlay raced around the Meadows and George Square on their courses. Morag & Peter did a tour of the Old Town with added Dumbiedykes (double Dumbiedykes for Peter on Course 2.) Morag covered 10km on Course 3, Peter nearly 15km (we’re not telling you how long the courses were!) All agreed it was a great experience, with some amazing Control locations, despite the challenges.

Event 4: Arthur’s Seat Classic Race (a.k.a. Fight With The Gorse)

Tired legs (Morag & Peter) as we arrived at an icy Holyrood Park for the final event of the Big Weekend. Getting to the Start was a challenge in itself, as we slipped our way up a path at the back of Salisbury Crags. The main challenges on the Courses themselves were: